A Sea Of Red

Liberty heads west this weekend, on a good RPI building trip. We play Tulsa, Oklahoma (2) and Louisiana (2), starting Friday.

Ballcoach, will you be DRIVING there?

2 hours to first pitch vs Tulsa.

Liberty 10 Tulsa 6 Final. Roupe 2 HR, Kersten HR. Madrey 2 hits. Love good relief job. 1.1 innings, 1 hit, 0 walks, 0 runs. Good poise for a freshman.

Oklahoma beat Miami Ohio 9-7 on 2 run walk-off HR. Miami hit 5 HRs and leads the nation in team HRs (39). Ok has 26.

Our turn now

Bachman is a disappointment this season so far. Her control is a huge struggle.

I'm already cussing at the TV.

Easy my friend. I know it’s frustrating. Bachman is probably the most experienced pitchers they got but she is not showing it.

I think she's just "throwing ", not "pitching ". There is a difference. Needs to throw change up more. (for strikes)

ballcoach15 wrote: ↑March 2nd, 2024, 12:31 am I think she's just "throwing ", not "pitching ". There is a difference. Needs to throw change up more. (for strikes)

I thought same thing about changeup. But I don’t think she has any faith in her offspeed against the hammers.

I agree that a changeup can be a very effective pitch if thrown for strikes. However, what gave me the most trouble as a hitter was facing a pitcher with 3 different speeds. That middle speed, usually a breaking ball, between the hard stuff and a changeup is very difficult to adjust to and usually leads to weak ground balls or popups. In my experience as a softball coach, there were too many pitchers who had pitching coaches who did not teach them the art of keeping a batter off balance. When Greg Maddox was asked by a reporter if he tried to throw harder on days he was struggling he replied-“just the opposite, I tried to throw slower”.

LU defeats Louisiana raging Cajuns 7-1 earlier today. Louisiana snaps OU's win streak at 71.

Former LU pitcher now at Oklahoma was the losing pitcher today vs Louisiana.
Liberty's 2 freshmen pitchers (Love and Yoder) held Louisiana to 1 run. Love went 5 innings. Yoder came in with bases loaded in 6th, with no outs, and got a double play and strikeout to end the threat.

First RPI rankings came out today. Liberty sits at 56.